


A Burning Question

by ScrawlingStories



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Kiss, M/M, Mostly Fluff, Rad Has The Apartment(TM) That We All Know He Truly Deserves, Rad waxes kinda overdramatic but Anxiety Be Like That Sometimes, They're Both Confused But Rolling With It Anyways, Why Won't You Two Just Talk & Stop Being Awkward jfc, but it IS like 4AM in their defense so cut them some slack lmao, conceived/written pre-Rad Likes Robots, the second chapter's so much longer I'm so sorry;;;;, these two are bad at communicating tbh, well Raymond has no defense but SHH Feelings Are Difficult
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-01-17 14:37:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12367863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScrawlingStories/pseuds/ScrawlingStories
Summary: Raymond has an important question for a certain Bodega employee and comes to the completely logical conclusion that breaking into his apartment at nearly 4 in the morning is the proper way to go about getting himself an answer....Oh, Raymond~





	1. In the Night

**Author's Note:**

> _(((FINALLY, A SHORT-ISH FIC, I WEEP~!! /flops)))_
> 
> So like two weeks or so before Rad Likes Robots aired I had [A Dream](http://scrawlingskribbles.tumblr.com/post/165437731291/anyways-back-on-my-radmond-bs-full-steam-again) where I saw into an alternate universe/reality where we were farther along in the series and Radmond was actually canon (or, _becoming_ canon, as of this episode/scene), which I just knew I _had_ to write down at least for myself, and now also for anyone else to enjoy~! (I mean, I actually only saw the one small snippet so most of this is my own conjecture of what happened before/after but yanno ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ happens~)
> 
> ((Also: this takes place a little while after [the Alternate!Rad Likes Robots Dream](http://scrawlingskribbles.tumblr.com/post/165655645396/yyyyyyyyyyalllll-i-had-a-freaking-intensive-dream) that I _also_ had before that episode aired, which will be more relevant/referenced in the second half/chapter of this fic but I'll link it here too anyways lol))
> 
> _Please Enjoy~!! :3c_

_Maybe this isn’t the best idea._

The thought crosses Raymond’s mind as he touches down on the balcony, finally slowing his pace for the first time since he’d left the Boxmore perimeter earlier tonight. It’s late—very late. He’d had to sneak out of the factory without letting anyone catch him—the last thing he needs is suspicion from his father or siblings—and he knows he shouldn’t be here for plenty more reasons than just breaking curfew. But he’s had a question burning white-hot in his chest for so long now that the heat of it straining in his core has actually started to give him malfunctions—and not the kind that can be fixed with a simple reboot. He needs an answer, and he can’t afford to wait any longer.

He tries the handle. Locked. Who locks a third-story balcony door?

...Probably someone who wants to avoid a situation like this.

It gives easily enough with the right amount of force, though. That isn’t very safe. He makes a mental note to be sure to replace it, hopefully with something a little more effective at actually keeping any potential future intruders out. The noise of the break-in isn’t deafening, but it isn’t exactly quiet either; certainly loud enough to wake anyone in the room who isn’t the deepest of sleepers.

The hammock suspended from the ceiling to his left is empty, but the futon to his right is not. Radicles startles awake at the sudden intrusion of his small apartment space, stray pieces of popcorn flying everywhere as flails into consciousness with all the gracefulness of an electrocuted sloth. He whips around and blinks blearily against the light of the full moon streaming in through the glass doors, squinting as he tries to make out the figure silhouetted in the glow.

“Wh… Raymond? Whuh the—wha’re yoo doon here??”

His voice is groggy, heavily clogged with the sleep that he was just so rudely pulled out of, and it makes his words slur together and kind of difficult to understand. But Raymond gets the gist; what other reaction would someone have to one of their sworn enemies breaking into their home in the middle of the night? Rad’s eyes sluggishly flick over to the digital clock glowing on a nearby table, the LED numbers declaring the time to be around half past 3AM. He groans and rubs his fists into his eyes to try and wake himself up more; Raymond still hasn’t responded, just watching him silently from over by the balcony door. It’s a little unsettling, to be completely honest.

“Well? Gonna gimme some kind of explanation or just stand there?”

Raymond opens his mouth, closes it again, hesitates, and repeats the motion a few times without ever actually saying anything. Rad digs into his eyes again. What is going _on??_ This whole situation is just weird, and makes absolutely _no_ sense. Raymond’s never been the hesitant type before, whether in battle or otherwise—and he certainly hadn’t hesitated to barge right into Rad’s apartment like it was a completely normal thing to do—so if he’s not here to immediately start picking a fight then what gives? It takes a few extra moments for the realization to actually catch up with Rad, but when it does it hits him hard enough to actually reel a little like he’d physically been hit.

“Dude, _what are you doing here?”_ he repeats in an almost-frantic hiss, eyes going wide as panic begins rising up in his chest, and he starts pacing the length of the futon as his mind and mouth start going a mile a minute and only partially in time with each other. “How do you even know where I live? Should I be more concerned about that detail than I am right now?? That you just somehow know that I live here? Oh my god, there are literally _so_ many heroes in this building—do you have _any_ idea what would happen if you got caught here?? I mean, I know you’ve got skill and everything, but that would literally be _so many people_ all at once, and if they saw a Boxman bot here they wouldn’t even consider hesitating like I’m doing—and why _am_ I hesitating??? That’s the _real_ question here, I think! _You_ broke into _my_ house, in the middle of the _freaking_ night, and instead of doing something about it I’m just standing here running my mouth like it’s—” He’s straight-up babbling at this point, and he’s just coherent enough to realize as much but not enough to stop himself, because Raymond _still_ isn’t saying or doing anything so what is Rad supposed to do other than fill the awkwardly tense air with whatever nonsense can manage to tumble its way out of his mouth—

And then he isn’t saying much of anything anymore when Raymond suddenly surges forward and presses their lips together. Shocked would be an understatement to describe the state he suddenly finds himself in, and he’s not sure if the tingling sensation in his lips was an actual zap of electricity or just his tired mind playing tricks on him. Raymond’s mouth is actually surprisingly soft compared to the rest of his sharp robotic build, and it doesn’t have that bitter, metallic tang that Rad had always assumed it would. (N-not that he’s ever actually spent time thinking about it before...) It’s just… nice, and warm, and completely unexpected, and Rad somehow finds his mounting panicked energy beginning to ease away as he slowly allows himself to relax against the feeling. His eyes are crossed and adorably confused when Raymond finally pulls away again, and it takes Rad a moment to find his voice, even though all he manages to get out in the end is an incredibly soft,

“...Oh.”

“...Yeah.” But Raymond’s eyes are sad, cold almost, and he sighs harshly and turns away from Rad again. “I knew this was a mistake, I just—I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be here,” he says with a voice like scalding ice, turning back towards the balcony door, and Rad has never been more confused in all his life. Two seconds ago they were kissing, and now—this? Rad doesn’t understand what could have happened in the past few moments to cause such a whiplash of a change when he hadn’t even actually _done_ anything—

“Wait, wha— _Wait!”_

He throws out his hand to catch Raymond’s, and the robot actually listens to him and stills, glancing back over his shoulder sullenly. He looks so sad, and Rad feels like he’s missing some kind of actually-really-important piece of this story, but it’s almost 4AM and he’s _so tired_ that he’s not even sure if he has the ability to say words that would make any kind of real sense and not just end up turning into another half-disjointed string of rambling thoughts. But he can’t just leave things like this—whatever _this_ is... Not after a kiss like that. So he twines his fingers in between Raymond’s and squeezes, gazing into his eyes again and silently pleading that his point would still get across. Raymond’s eyes widen the slightest bit, and Rad hears a sound shift somewhere in the machinery in his chest, but he’s still entirely too hesitant, and that still isn’t right. Rad sighs inwardly and tries to get his brain to remember how to Words, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly as he finds the ones that he’s apparently being given to say.

“If… If we try again, I promise I’ll kiss back this time.”

His voice is quiet, so much softer than he thought it was going to be, but Raymond still hears him in the otherwise-silence of the night-bleached room. The robot’s eyes are searching, and still sad, and he looks like he’s just as confused as Rad is, and his voice is certainly just as soft as he asks, “But… I don’t… _why—”_

 _It’s too late at night for this,_ Rad decides with the tiniest shake of his head and takes the initiative upon himself by stepping forward and pressing himself up into another soft kiss. He has to stretch up onto his tiptoes to make sure his point is made, wrapping his free hand behind the back of Raymond’s neck to steady himself while the other pointedly squeezes his hand again. Raymond’s fans are whirring louder when they part this time, and if the pleasantly-stunned look on his face is anything to go by then he probably does believe Rad’s words now. But he still isn’t moving or otherwise reacting, so Rad decides to give him another delicate kiss just to be sure. And another. And another. And another… And _maybe_ one more—but at this point Raymond is definitely giving these kisses just as much as he’s getting them, so the details begin to blur together between gentle lips caressed in soft breaths and even softer smiles.

But Rad does know that _he_ is the one who pulls them both down onto the couch, giggling at the surprised sound that Raymond makes when they’re suddenly falling and full-on laughing when Raymond’s shoulder spike accidentally rips a hole in the back of the couch. It’s not really _that_ funny, because now there’s a pretty sizable chunk gouged out of the already-“well-loved” sofa, but in his sleep-addled brain Rad can’t help but find it ironic that Raymond is so quick to apologize profusely for messing up his couch when he does way more damage trying to destroy the Plaza nearly every single day. But that isn’t the same as this, so Rad shushes him with a dopey grin and tells him it’s fine, it’s _fine_ , really, promise, and Raymond pouts the entire time it takes for him to ruefully retract his shoulder and elbow spikes into the confines of his metal body. Rad hadn’t even known that he could even _do_ that, but he’s definitely grateful for the discovery in this moment. Getting himself accidentally stabbed by a rogue elbow blade right now would be a lot more troublesome and mood-breaking than poking a hole in the sofa cushion.

When the spikes are all safely hidden away, Rad decides that kissing the pout away from Raymond’s lips is clearly the best course of action—well it had worked like a charm earlier, hadn’t it?—and pulls him down against him as they fall into another lazy series of kisses, and Rad is struck once again by how _easy_ it is, how nice it feels, and refuses to acknowledge how weird the entire situation is. That can wait. For now, all he wants to and even _can_ focus on is how light Raymond is—he was expecting all of that machinery to be heavier, or maybe Raymond is holding himself back—pressing against his chest with the perfect amount of pressure and warmth, lips soft and gentle and smiling against his own, and then a hand finds its way to twirl lazily in the thick curls of his hair and _wow_ is that nice, and it’s altogether actually really, really... really...... relaxing.........

“...Am I really that bad at this?” Raymond asks quietly, but there’s a definite smile in his voice, and the sound is enough to snap Rad’s eyes open again and send a flustered blush flooding fresh across his cheeks when he realizes—he had literally started dozing off, right _now,_ in the middle of… _this._

“Shut up, dude,” he mutters with the tiniest of giggles, covering his face with his hands as the embarrassment thoroughly washes over him. “No, it’s not you—you’re, like, kinda _really great_ at this, actually—it’s, just—”

“No, I know,” Raymond cuts him off, thankfully, from what was sure to have been another babbling rant that Rad would no doubt regret later on, but his smile is so gentle and genuine that Rad completely forgets if there was ever anything to be embarrassed about in the first place. “It _is_ really late, after all. I should let you get back to sleep.”

But when he tries to pull away Rad’s hands hold him still, and he pauses mid-shift once again with a raised eyebrow. Rad falters slightly at the look, because he still isn’t even entirely sure what’s exactly going on here—he's honestly just been going with what feels right this whole time—so he isn’t sure how far is _too_ far or what would be something that's  _too_ weird. But he knows what he wants to ask right now, even if it makes him flush darker and the words stick stubbornly to his tongue. But apparently the question shines clearly enough through his eyes this time because understanding suddenly dawns in Raymond’s own, and the air between them shifts, just slightly, and Rad isn’t sure if it’s good or bad until Raymond gives his own silent answer. The robot begins moving again, this time not away from Rad but closer to him, nestling himself between the alien and the now-torn back of the futon and pulling Rad back against his chest as they both shuffle into the most comfortable position they can find on the limited cushion space.

It’s surprisingly easy, Rad thinks _yet again,_ to almost immediately get comfortable, which he had assumed would feel at least somewhat awkward with Raymond’s angular, metal body pressed against his like this, but it just feels… nice. Nice, and warm, and _safe,_ which is definitely not a word he’d ever thought he would associate with a Boxmore robot, but here he is, drowsily pulling Raymond’s arm over his chest and tangling their legs together as they lie on his futon after an entirely spontaneous makeout session at after-4AM. Life is just weird like that sometimes, full of all kinds of surprises... But he still refuses to think about it now—not that his over-tired brain even _could_ properly process that kind of heavy thinking at the moment. Right now, cuddled up and comfortable and thoroughly-kissed as he is, all he wants to do is let himself sink back into the sweet siren’s call of sleep...

“...Should we talk about this?” Raymond asks suddenly, softly, the words drifting feather-light across Rad’s shoulder even though they carried the weight of stone.

“...Probably...” Rad concedes drowsily after a pause, lifting Raymond’s hand from his chest to press a finalizing kiss against the smooth metal of his palm, “but I think it can wait ‘til morning.” A beat of silence precedes the kick-start whirring of Raymond’s fans again, the vibrations rumbling directly against Rad’s spine and spilling down his back. Oh. “I mean, as long as I’m not, like, actually keeping you from anything important..?”

A couple more beats pass before the fans shut off again, and Raymond’s arms tighten minutely around him as he presses a light kiss against his shoulder. “No, you’re right. It can definitely wait until morning~” And the feeling of Raymond’s thumb tracing tenderly across his sternum is the last thing Rad feels before he finally, finally lets himself drift off to sleep again, and the soft smiles and gentle warmth follow him into his dreams that he's not even sure he'll remember when he wakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~Part 2 Coming.... umm.... whenever I get around to finishing it~? :,D~~   
>  ~~Sorry lol, I can't give a real timeline bc yanno Life Happens and also I just know how I am regardless, but I already have parts of it written so~!!!!~~   
>  ~~It'll definitely get here eventually, promise~ <3~~   
>  ~~((I love this alt!canonverse too much to just leave it hanging like that, c'mon now~ x'3c))~~
> 
> Hey lookie, Part 2's here now~!! x,D
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoyed & that you'll have a good rest of your day/night~! <3333


	2. In the Morning Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These boys are both Drama Queens™ who refuse to make the first move & it's infuriating lmfao~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *anticlimactic vuvuzela noises*  
> This took me way too long to write for what it actually ended up being lmao, so, Sorry to anyone who's been waiting~;;;; Who knew I'd have so much trouble trying to decide what to write when I didn't have a dream snippet to work with this time?? :,D
> 
> And it's gd 4K+ words. I'm so mad x,D But I'm also tired of looking at it so here, Happy Late Thanksgiving~ x,3c
> 
> ((And like I said last chapter, they're gonna kinda-heavily reference something from [a different dream I had](http://scrawlingskribbles.tumblr.com/post/165655645396/yyyyyyyyyyalllll-i-had-a-freaking-intensive-dream), so if you get curious/confused when that part comes up then you can go give that a little peek if ya wanna lol~))

Surely enough, Rad forgets nearly everything he dreamt about before reaching his fourth second of consciousness in the morning, and he groans a soft sigh of annoyance through his nose. All he can remember is something about radioactive homing pigeons in his shower drain? And he'd pulled his own teeth out again. Ugh, he hates those dreams; they always leave him feeling really weirded out. But a few experimental clenches and unclenches of his jaw confirms that his real teeth are in fact still fine, although his right cheek feels a little bit funny from where it’s pressed into the couch. The cushion is really warm against his skin, and it feels kind of harder than usual, and… smooth?

Rad opens his eyes and has to close them again immediately at the strength of the sunlight spilling into the room—oh jeez, what time even is it?? Didn’t he set an alarm or five yesterday?—before cracking them open more slowly. And as the world swims back to him in blurry focus, he realizes that the cushion feels weird because that’s not actually what he’s resting on. The memories of his 3AM surprise visit come flooding back to him in an instant as he remembers that he’s not alone in his apartment right now, curled half-atop Raymond’s chest as the robot appears to be asleep.

Rad must have involuntarily jumped or something, because it only takes a few moments before Raymond’s eyes flutter open as well. This close to him, Rad can see the shutters of his red irises shift into focus, and he would probably think that that was really cool if he weren’t low-key panicking beneath his skin right now. “Oh, you’re awake finally,” Raymond says casually, and his voice in kind of garbled at the edges in what Rad assumes must be the robot equivalent of grogginess. He clears his throat, and Rad follows suit automatically even though he hasn't even spoken yet.

“Have… you been awake already?” Rad asks because the _‘finally’_ makes him feel a bit weird, and it isn’t until he tries to sit up that he realizes that Raymond’s arms are looped around his back.

Raymond pulls his arms away without any hesitation. “My standby mode is really sensitive to movement. You shift around a lot in your sleep, actually.”

“Oh, sorry,” Rad apologizes as he moves into a sitting position on the edge of the couch cushion, trying to stifle a yawn behind his hand as he waits for his brain to actually wake the rest of the way up with him and decide if the anxiety bubbling at the base of his lungs truly needs to be there or not. Everything’s still processing too-slow for him to be sure about anything.

“It’s fine. A perk to being a robot is that I can just immediately turn it back on again,” Raymond explains, shifting over onto his side and propping his head up with one arm. That makes a little more room for Rad to sit, but he doesn’t move from the edge of the cushion.

Rad’s phone is on the coffee table, and he grabs it to see why his alarms didn’t go off—only to be met with a black screen. Great. It must have died during the night, for whatever reason, even though he’d made sure to charge it yesterday. Of course. “Do you know what time it is, dude?” he asks through another yawn, rubbing his fists into his eyes in muted exasperation as he drops the phone again with an unceremonious clatter.

“A couple minutes from 11:30AM,” he reports, and Rad makes a sound that’s a mixture of shocked-but-not-really and somewhat-rather-displeased. “Do you always sleep in this late?” Raymond asks, tone condescending but not genuinely critical as he watches Rad transition into stretching his arms up over his head with a satisfied sigh.

“Well, I don’t _always_ have people keeping me up until four in the morning,” Rad teases back, feeling more awake now, and his first instinct when his eyes open again to see Raymond looking up at him like that is to lean over and kiss the smirk right off his lips. But now that they’re in the light of day, he’s not sure if he should. Last night it had only felt right, very right, _extremely_ right—but today the soft warmth in his chest has been replaced with churning anxiety and it’s leaving him feeling uncertain. The air is different now that they’re not swathed in moonlight and drowsiness and the anesthesia of pure shock: it’s not exactly awkward, but it’s not entirely not-awkward either, and Rad isn’t sure what to do about it.

“...This is awkward, isn’t it?” Raymond asks after a few moments of elongated silence, and Rad snorts a soft laugh in return.

“Maybe a little,” he concedes, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. But having Raymond acknowledge the fact aloud does help a little. “It would’ve still been awkward if we’d tried talking about it last night, too,” Rad points out with a shrug, ignoring the hornets beginning to quietly buzz in his stomach as he takes Raymond’s free hand in his own to give himself something to _do_ with all the building nervous energy. “But I’m glad we waited. I’d rather have an actually-awake brain for something as… big, I guess, as this—even if it means I feel the awkwardness even more.”

Raymond smiles as Rad begins absently playing with his fingers, letting the joints go loose so Rad can bend them freely as he pleases. “True. I do realize that I didn’t exactly have the best timing, so I apologize for that. But thank you for letting me stay the night. That was…” Rad pauses along with Raymond’s words, eyes remaining diligently focused on his hands that slow to a near-standstill in his lap, “...unexpected, but really nice as well.”

“Well—yeah, I mean,” Rad says with another small shrug, trying to ignore the spike of heat in his cheeks at how forward it had been of him to just assume that Raymond would agree to stay the night—and ignoring even more pointedly for the moment what it meant that he actually _had_ stayed— “we, uh, clearly have some stuff to talk about here and should probably do it sooner rather than later, so it didn’t make sense to send you off if I was just gonna have to track you down again ASAP.”

“Makes sense,” Raymond agrees with a slight nod.

“...Yep.”

…Well, just because he knows that they need to talk doesn’t mean he knows how to lead into it! Give him a break; he’s stressed, okay? This isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence. They don’t teach you in school how to deal with one of your sworn arch-nemeses breaking into your room in the middle of the night for unknown reasons and somehow ending up kissing you until you fall back asleep. How are you supposed to tactfully get to the root of something like that when your stomach feels like you’ve swallowed enough rocks to drag you right down into the molten center of the earth where you wouldn’t have to deal with something like this??

“Yep…”

Wow. Brilliant. The conversation's going _great._ Well, at least Raymond doesn’t seem to know how to go about starting it either. They’re both in the same boat there, which ultimately isn’t helpful right now, but it is somewhat comforting to know that Rad isn’t the only one suffering in the cloud of awkwardness hanging heavy in the air around them.

“......Yep.”

Rad mentally slaps himself. But then again, why does  _he_ have to be the one to start off?  This is all Raymond's doing anyways, so shouldn't _he_ be the one to just finally ask whatever his question is? Why can’t he just _say something_ already! But no, he remains perfectly silent save for the gentle humming of his fans, just like he had been last night, avoiding Rad’s gaze as he now keeps _his_ eyes pointedly trained on their hands in Rad’s lap—

“If you keep spinning counter-clockwise like that then the whole thing’s going to pop off, just so you know.”

“Oh.” The sudden break in silence pulls Rad out of his downward spiral, and he stills his idle anxious fidgeting. Or at least starts messing with a different finger. A muscle in his shoulder twitches. “Sorry.”

Raymond shrugs one shoulder, still not looking at him, and his tone is almost terse now as he says, “It’s fine.”

And that’s the final straw, snapping the overstrained back of Rad’s pent-up anxiety with all the force of a whirlwind so strong it almost leaves him physically reeling.

_“This is dumb!”_ he exclaims with that same amount of force, and Raymond startles a little at the sudden outburst. “Sorry, I just—all this dancing around everything and suffocating in the awkwardness—I’m not doing it anymore! So…” He huffs, more at himself than anything, as he forces himself to just be blunt and say it outright. Maybe this just isn’t a situation where tact can even apply. “Why did you come here last night?”

Raymond hesitates for a moment, but he seems relieved to be finally getting to the root of his visit as well. He shifts a little but doesn’t take his hand away from Rad’s lap. “I came here… because I needed to ask you something.” Okay, that’s a start, at least. He pauses again, and Rad nods for him to continue. Raymond averts his eyes, suddenly extremely hesitant once more, and Rad almost guiltily feels his annoyance die down completely at his expression. Raymond is still just as nervous and confused about whatever’s going on as he is, Rad reminds himself, giving Raymond’s hand a comforting squeeze. Raymond breathes in for a long moment, steeling himself, before finally meeting Rad’s eyes again. “What exactly did you mean, the other night, back when… you said you liked robots?”

Rad blinks.

Oh. _Oh._

…Oh.

He doesn’t mean to snort, he _really_ doesn’t, but of all the possible explanations he’d had floating around his head regarding Raymond’s surprise visit, _that_ hadn’t even been anywhere _close_ to his radar. It’s almost anticlimactic in a way, the anxiety hornets slowly deflating like old balloons in his chest, and for a split second he wonders if that was just an attempt at a joke to break the tension. But Raymond’s eyes are sincere, boring into him with that same quiet intensity that they’d held last night, so Rad does his best to collect his now very-confused thoughts and give him an actual answer. “Well—I mean—I didn’t mean _this,_ but… Dude, that was like, almost _a month ago!?”_

“I _know_ that!” Raymond defends, beginning to fluster at Rad’s reaction. “Believe me, I am _very_ well aware. It’s just—it stuck with me for some reason, okay? And I just… I haven’t been able to shake it from my mind ever since. And it’s actually really bothering me, for whatever reason, so… I finally decided that I had to find out.”

“Wow…” Rad drawls softly, sitting back in awe and letting his mind wander to the image of Raymond working himself up so much over a single stray thought that had managed to slip past his lips on their walk home from the robots’ fight night event a few weeks back. He hadn’t even meant to say that thought aloud, and yet the words somehow struck a chord within Raymond that Rad hadn’t intended or even really realized. He almost feels a little bad about it now, actually. “You’ve really been thinking circles around just _one_ little thing I said, for the entire past month…”

“I mean, I’ve been thinking about _you_ for a lot longer than that, so it isn't really _that_ much of a stretch…” It takes Raymond a few moments of Rad staring at him in shock to realize that he actually said _those_ words aloud as well, and a blush floods his cheeks as he shrinks back against the back of the couch in embarrassment. “I-I mean—that is to _say—”_

“Really?” Rad asks, but there’s no teasing in his tone, just quiet curiosity. His heart picks up pace at the words, a new kind of nervousness beginning to spark in his guts, but he tries his best to not let it show, busying himself instead with bringing Raymond’s hand up to brush the cold metal of his fingers against his chin. Not quite his lips, but close. Raymond doesn’t pull his hand away, and his fans begin humming softly again as he takes an extra few moments to collect his own thoughts. Rad takes that as a good sign; it had been last night, after all. And now that the awkwardness between them is finally thinning, things are starting to feel like they had back then. It makes Rad’s heart flutter again—no longer with hornets, but butterflies.

“...Ever since our first battle, if we’re being completely honest,” Raymond confesses quietly, feeling his face grow hotter at actually admitting such a thing, but now that he’s started it seems that he can’t really stop. “It wasn’t the same back then, of course. But that was when it started, all the way back at the very beginning. And it just sort of… grew from there, I suppose. Little things picked up here and there from our battles; the whole Social Media debacle back in August…” They both smirked at the memory; Rad had to admit that that had been hilarious, in hindsight at least. “And then of course your Plaza Prom happened—or, more specifically, our Dance Battle happened—and that _certainly_ didn’t help anything…”

“Didn’t, or _did?”_ Rad asks coyly, and Raymond bops him lightly on the chin with his captive hand for the teasing.

“Shut up. You know what I mean.”

Rad hums, expression going thoughtful for a few moments. He had convinced himself long ago that anything other than pure competitiveness that he may have felt during their dance battle was just him misreading the thrill of his adrenaline spike. But if Raymond is here saying that he’d felt something too—along with a whole list of other times that definitely lined up with Rad’s own collection of weird feelings that he’d managed to shrug off as really being _this_ or _that_ or _the other_ —then… well…

The butterflies start humming faster.

“Well, to answer your question better,” Rad begins at last with a smile and small shrug, “I said I liked robots because, well… I _do._ Yanno, like, in general. Which might sound kinda dumb to _you_ maybe, but I’ve only ever been told that robots are evil. So I’d always just kinda had it in my mind that you’re all a bunch of dumb, mindless, heartless, disposable hunks of metal—but you’re not!” he amends quickly at the face Raymond was beginning to sink into, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. “You’re _definitely_ not—and I _know_ that now, which is why I said that to you that night after the fights. Letting me tag along with you guys really, like, opened my eyes about some things. Robots are actually pretty cool, and way more complicated than I used to give you guys credit for. Way more… yanno, _alive._  You’re real people with real feelings, and like, wants and dreams and all that junk…”

He trails off with only the slightest awkwardness and clears his throat, ignoring the heat attempting to flicker up beneath his cheeks at the appreciative look Raymond has fixed him with. “And on _that_ note—” The smile evolves into a grin, eyes glittering mischievously as he puts on an air of obviously-forced nonchalance. “—there is maybe _one_ robot that I kinda, y’know, _‘like’_ more than the others… He’s just… I dunno, there’s just _something_ about him that just… I can’t quite put my finger on it, yanno~?”

Raymond blinks at him, falling completely deadpan as something clicks audibly within the machinery of his chest. “...It’s Jethro, isn’t it?”

The bubble of surprised laughter swells so quickly in Rad’s lungs that it nearly knocks him off the edge of the couch, and Raymond’s grip on his hand is the only thing that keeps him from completely toppling backwards into the unforgiving edges of the coffee table. _“No,_ it’s not Jethro,” he answers hoarsely, wiping at the tears that had managed to squeeze their way out of his eyes in the swell of unprecedented amusement.

“Are you sure?” Raymond asks, still impressively deadpan save for the small smile that he can’t quite seem to shake. “Because Jethro truly is the pinnacle of… well, _everything,_ pretty much~ What’s not to adore about him~?”

“It’s _not_ Jethro,” Rad repeats with an adamant giggle, trying to find his composure again if Raymond is apparently planning to make an entire scene about this. Of course he is, Rad thinks, and his smile deepens as the butterflies slowly start spreading throughout his ribcage.

Raymond hums, shifting to tap his index finger against his lips as he pulls a face of exaggerated deep thought. “Well, it can’t really be Shannon or Mikayla because you specifically said ‘he’, right? So that means it must be… Ernesto?”

Rad rolls his eyes. “No, not Ernesto either. I’m thinkin’ someone a little… greener~”

“Darrell?”

“...Dude, Darrell’s _red.”_

“Not his brain dome. That’s definitely green enough to fall for, if that’s what you’re into, I suppose~”

Rad snorts. “Okay, I’m thinkin’ someone _a lot_ greener, you smart-aleck,” he amends with a now-full-blown grin because he knows that Raymond has exhausted his supply of fake guesses.

Raymond hums again, drawing the sound out longer this time as he continues to tap at his lips. “Well, if it’s none of _them,_ then that just leaves…” He gasps softly and stretches his eyes wide, covering his mouth with his hand. _“...me~?”_

Rad mirrors his gasp, though the grin splitting his face makes the delivery much less believable than Raymond’s. _“Ding-ding-ding!_ Amazing! We have a winner _at long last,_ folks~!”

Raymond snickers, dropping his hand to prop his head up again as he smiles softly up at Rad, all of the theatrical light immediately stripped away again to nothing but genuine softness and amusement. “Oh? And what exactly do I win~?” he asks with a certain lilt to his tone that has Rad’s heart jumping into his throat in an instant.

But Rad doesn't let that stop him from leaning in as he musters up all the false confidence he can manage and answering casually enough, “Oh, a few different things. But for right now: one of these.” And he presses into the gentlest of kisses and the butterflies have clogged up the spaces between his ribs so fully that he feels like he can’t breathe—until Raymond leans up just as much into the soft touch, welcoming it with the smallest of smiles when Rad pulls away again after only a moment. Rad’s face is on fire now and any semblance of steadiness in his voice is completely shot as he adds a quiet, “And also… m-maybe more than just the one, if you really want...”

Raymond doesn’t need to be told twice. He untangles his hand from Rad’s and pulls him down into another kiss, and all of the butterflies explode back into the warm feelings from last night when Rad realizes that it really _hadn’t_ just been his tired brain playing tricks on him. Kissing Raymond still feels so inexplicably _good_ —warm safe _right_ —and Raymond still _wants_ to kiss him, and his chest aches in the best of ways as the first gives way to another and another in a seemingly-endless string of kisses so tender he could almost cry.

“...Is there a cap to how many I’m allowed to have~?” Raymond asks long after Rad has lost count of the number, and he keeps close enough that their lips brush when he speaks.

Rad smiles, knowing that Raymond can feel that too, and shakes his head. “But we’re not all the way done talking yet, are we?” Raymond hums softly in agreement, nuzzling comfortably between Rad’s neck and shoulder as a silent signal to go ahead. Rad leans into the touch, trying his best to boil all of his looming questions and concerns down into a single succinct phrase. “...What do we do now?” He’s not sure he got it right, but it’s a start, at least.

“Nothing drastic,” Raymond replies with a small shrug, sounding surprisingly unconcerned about the prospect of… whatever they now are. Or, are going to be. “By which I mean… I’m still trying to figure things out here? Like, I’m pretty sure I'm still in shock right now,” he admits with another shrug and an audible grin. “And there’s still the whole _‘we’re actually enemies by-the-way, in case you forgot’_ thing, but… I say we just… see where this goes? Like, don’t force anything but just… see what happens, _as_ it happens...?”

“That’s probably the only thing we _can_ do, right?” Rad asks with a hint of a laugh, shifting so he can see Raymond’s face again. “I mean, that’s what got us to this point, right? Sleepy saturday morning—or, uh, afternoon, I guess—confessions and kisses… Though next time maybe don’t _literally_ break into my apartment at four in the morning??”

Raymond grins. “Well, I _am_ a villain, after all~ I have to create a _little_ havoc for some heroes wherever I go~”

“Yeah but _I_ can’t keep forking over cash for repairs over and over,” Rad snickers, bumping his forehead against Raymond’s nose playfully. “I’ll like, get an extra key made and stash it somewhere on the balcony for you or something~”

Raymond’s eyebrows arch in amusement. “Oh? Planning to have me over that often, are you~?” Rad feels his face flush instantly at being over-presumptuous again, but Raymond cuts off his stuttery backpedaling with another brief kiss. “I’m just teasing~ A spare key would probably be a good idea regardless.”

“I’ll get on that ASAP, then,” Rad mutters, attempting to distract them both from the color flooding his cheeks with another kiss, gently pressing Raymond back against the cushions until a soft beeping sound goes off somewhere in his chest. Raymond freezes, and Rad pulls away in muted confusion. “...Was that for me?”

Raymond sighs, dropping his hands to Rad’s shoulders and drumming the tips of his fingers a few times. Rad gets an involuntary shiver from the feeling. “No, it’s for me. Father’s calling me.”

Rad’s eyes widen. “Oh.” He sits back farther. “Like, a phone call?”

“Calling _for_ me, I guess is more accurate. As in, he wants to see me. Now.”

“Oh. So, you need to go then? Like, _right_ now?”

“Well, on the rare occasions that I don’t immediately appear in his office at the call-in, he usually sends Shannon out with my GPS signal to find me...” Raymond says with a smirk, and he laughs when Rad’s eyes widen even further.

“Oh, no no _no!”_ he says, scrambling up off of the couch and theatrically tugging at Raymond’s hand as he goes. “Only _one_ evil robot allowed in the heavily-populated-and-now-also-fully-awake hero apartment complex at a time, thank you!”

Raymond laughs again but still allows himself to be pulled to a stand and ushered back over towards the balcony door. The sun continues to shine nice and bright as Rad opens the door and leans out over the balcony, scanning the area to see if anyone’s around that might actually take notice of a robot flying out of the building. Apparently the coast is clear, because Rad turns back to him to motion him forward and his dark eyes are shimmering in the light and Raymond _still_ can’t quite get himself to believe that this is all real.

“I’ll pay to get the door replaced, too,” he promises as he steps outside, and Rad rolls his eyes.

“Yeah-yeah, thanks, but you _seriously_ need to get out of here before anyone else sees you,” he urges, glancing over the railing again suspiciously.

And Raymond knows he’s right. Getting caught would cause a whole number of problems that neither of them needs nor wants to deal with—and if this is apparently going to become a regular occurrence, what kind of bad start would it be to get caught right off the bat? However, before he leaves… “One more thing before I go:”

Rad raises an eyebrow but doesn’t take his eyes off of the other side of the balcony, so he doesn’t notice Raymond leaning in until a metallic hand cups his cheek and pulls him in for a final farewell kiss. It’s all too short, more teasing than anything else, and Raymond knows it as he pulls away with a smug giggle at the look on Rad’s face. But he’s already off of the balcony before Rad has the chance to retaliate, activating the jets in his feet as soon as he clears the railing. He should have just enough fuel to make it back to the factory. Perfect.

“I’ll see you again tomorrow at the Plaza then, darling~!” he calls much-too-loudly, any semblance of stealth be damned if it cost him an opportunity of being Extra™. He just couldn’t resist~

“Hey, don’t think that this changes anything there, by the way!” Rad calls back with just as much bravado, and his eyes are still shining in that way that Raymond knows he means every word leaving his grinning mouth. “I’m not gonna start going easy on you or anything just because of this! You robots are still gonna get creamed just as hard as ever if you keep attacking the Plaza!”

“We’ll see about that!” Raymond promises, still snickering to himself as he finally flies out of earshot. His pager beeps insistently at him again, followed by Shannon messaging him freaking out about where he is and why he’s been out all night when he _knows_ he’s not supposed to go out after curfew much less stay out _all night_ without even _telling_ anyone beforehand—and he only rolls his eyes and informs her that he’s on his way as they speak.

He isn’t going to tell her where he was. He can’t tell _anyone_ —not yet, at least. He’s still figuring it out for himself, after all. But he’d accomplished what he’d set out to achieve— _and then some._ He’d gotten his answer, and while there’s still a warmth resting hot and solid in his chest, it’s different now. It’s exciting, and new, and kind of scary if he’s honest—but he’s not scared _of_ it anymore. And if it still gives him little malfunctions here and there—setting off tiny sparks in his joints, making his fans stutter every now and then, distracting him from his siblings’ scoldings and his father’s long-overdone ranting and raving about everything under the sun—well, he’s not going to complain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ............ I feel like this whole chapter was anticlimactic too asbshdvfjbs but!! I still hope you enjoyed it anyways, and I hope you have a good rest of your day/night~!!  <3333 :D


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